Apparatus for handling metal strip from rolling mills



Sept. 2, 1941. R. e. BENNEWITZ 2,

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING METAL STRIP FROM ROLLING MILLS Filed Sept. 24, 194'. 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. [PIC/MRO fiflv/vfw/rz ATTORNEYS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept 2, 1941.

R. BENNEWITZ APPARATUS FOR HANDLING METAL STRIP FROM ROLLING MILLS Filed Sept. 24, 1940 Sept. 2, 1941. R. G. BENNEWITZ 2,254,348

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING METAL STRIP FROM ROLLING MILLS Filed Sept. 24, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 F/cH/q ED G BENNEW/TZ W Gun a! ATTORNEYS Sept. 2, 1941. R. G. BENNEWITZ APPARATUS FOR HANDLING METAL STRIP FROM ROLLING MILLS Filed Sept. 24, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. E/cHAED GBE/v/vEw/rz.

ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 2, 1941 APPARATUS FOR HANDLING METAL STRIP FROM ROLLING MILLS Richard G. Bennewitz, Jersey City, N. J.,' assignor to Crucible Steel Company o1' America, New York, N. Y., a corporation oi New Jersey I Application September 24, 1940, Serial No. 358,114

Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for winding and handling coils of strip metal from rolling mills. i

The apparatus of the invention is particularly adapted for example, for use in connection with methods and apparatus for rolling strip metal as disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 350,789, filed August 3, 1940, although the. inventionin certain of its phases, is also useful in connection with other types of. rolling mills and 10 for other purposes involving the winding, handiing or rewinding of coils of metal strip or the like.

With rolling mills of the type disclosed in my above mentioned application, metal strip is coldrolled by forcefully pulling the same from a suitable coil or winding block between a pair of reducing rolls, and then onto another winding block. After the strip is passed through the mill in one direction, the mill may be reversed and the strip passed through in the opposite direction. Such reversing may be repeateduntil the desired amount of rolling has been accomplished, at the conclusion of which, the rolled strip will be wound in a disc-like coil on one of the wind ing blocks. As a result of the heavy tension in pulling .the strip through the mill, the turns of the completed coil will be wound under exceedingly great pressure on this winding block, the

pressure being great enough to cut into and cause injury to the winding block if the coil is allowed to remain thereon. Accordingly I have found it desirable to provide apparatus for recoiling the strip soon after it is completed, by rewinding the same into another and more loosely wound coil.-

The present invention provides means .'for quickly removing the completed coil with its winding block from the rolling mill and forrapidly applying another and empty winding block to the mill. Thus the rolling operations with the mill may be resumed with very little loss of time in changing winding blocks. Also as soon as an empty winding block is applied to the mill, the same block-changing apparatus maybe used in connectionwith means for rewinding, at a controlled speed and tension, the coil which has just been removed from the mill. Thus also while the rolling mill is operating, this winding block is being released from its coil and made ready to be applied by the apparatus to the mill as an empty block as soon as another coil is completed.

Various further and more specific obJects, features and advantages will clearly appear from nection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and illustrating by way of example one form of apparatus which may be used in carrying out the invention. The invention consists in such novel features, arrangements and combinations of parts as may be shown and described in connection'with the apparatus herein disclosed.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the righthand endportions of a rolling mill of the type disclosed in my above mentioned application, in conjunction with the apparatus of this invention for changing winding blocks and rewindingthe coils of strip metal;

Fig. 2 is a plan view showing portions of the apparatus of Fig. 1 in another operating position;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view ot the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the end portions of the rolling mill with certain ofthe winding apparatus of this invention thereon;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 1; c

Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing certain details of the apparatus of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a face view partly in section showing portions of a winding block and the center piece for carrying same in accordance with the in-,

vention;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 8-8 of Fig. 7 and also showing more fully various associated parts of the construction;

Fig. 9 is a side elevational view of the assembly of parts shown in "Figs. 7 and 8;

Fig. 10 is a view showing certain details partly in section substantially'along the line l0--lll of Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is a face view of a winding block made in accordance with one example of the invention;

- and The winding block It may be removably and rotatably mounted by a centerpiece l5, which in turn is fixed to a shaft l6 extending from reducthe detailed description given below taken in con-' tion gearing as at I'l. The reduction gearing may be driven by a powerful electric motor 16 connected for example through a clutch as at l9.

The apparatus for changing winding blocks may include a carriage 29, having a generally rectangular base portion 2| supported at each of its four corners as by roller bearings or casters as at 22 adapted to run along track bars as at 23, 24 fixed to the floor and being suitably grooved as at 25 to receive and retain thereon the roller bearings or casters of the carriage.

The track bars 23, 24 may as shown extend substantially at right angles to the path of movement of the strip being rolled and thus permit the carriage to be moved toward and away from the winding block on the rolling mill, when the operator performs the operations of exchanging winding blocks on the mill as hereinafter 'described.

The carriage 20 may further include a hollow and generally cylindrical standard as at 26 (Fig. within which an upstanding yoke member 21 l is received. The shank of this yoke member may be threaded as shown and embraced by a correspondingly threaded collar or nut 28 carried on roller bearings as at 29 at the top of the stand ard 26. It is apparent that the position of the collar 28 along the threaded shank of the yoke piece 21 may be adjusted to thereby adjust the height of the yoke piece as necessary to correspond to the height of the winding block on the mill. After this adjustment is made, the collar may be fixed in position as by a set screw 39. It will also be apparent that the yoke member 21 and the parts carried thereby are rotatable about a vertical axis passing through the center of the standard 26 and whereby either side of the yoke piece may be made to face the mill, thus permitting the same apparatus to be used in rapid succession, both for removing a completed coil of the strip from the mill and for then applying an empty block to the mill, upon reversing the yoke piece by revolving the same.

The yoke member 21 may be releasably retained against-rotation in either of its two depins, for example three on each face plate, as at 46. These pins are adapted to be slidably received in correspondingly spaced holes as at 41 in the winding blocks, thus permitting the wind ,ing blocks to be slid from the mill to the face plates or vice versa, without requiring the operator to lift the-blocks.

After the winding block has been slid into position on the carriage face plate, it may be firmly secured thereon as by a bolt 48 adapted to be threaded into the corresponding end of the shaft 36 by a suitable hand wheel or grips 49. This bolt carries a disc as at 50, the peripheral portions of which are adapted to engage the outer face of the winding block and thus hold the block in place.

At a point between the two face plates 38, 39 and preferably between the two arms of the yoke member 21, a suitable hold-back brake means as at 5| may be mounted upon the shaft 36. This brake means may include for example a brake drum 52 formed of cast iron and keyed to the shaft. The periphery of this drum may be formed with a deep annular groove of triangular cross section as at 52' adapted to receive brake shoe means as at 53 comprising a plurality of arcuately shaped blocks of hard wood, such as maple for example, as shown in Fig. 12. These blocks may be embraced by and bolted to a steel brake band as at 54 which in turn may be secured to and anchored at its lower side by a lug member 55 fixed to the yoke member .21. At its upper side the ends of the brake band may be 1 formed with eyelets as shown in'Fig. 12 for receiving pins as at 56, 51, these pins being interconnected by an eyebolt 58. An operating handle 59 is shown having its end portion shaped to fit the eyelet of eyebolt 58 and pin 51 with an eccentric operative relationship whereby when pressure is applied to the operating handle, the brake band is tightened.

This hold-back brake means will permit a cell on either of the winding blocks on the carriage to be unwound at a controlled speed for rewind ing, as hereinafter described.

In addition to the parts above described including the hold-back brake, the rewinding apparatus may include as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, a rewinding motor 60 connected as through a suitableuniversal joint' 6| to a reduction gear assembly 62, which in turn rotatably supports a position of the yoke piece it is merely necessary I for the operator to press against the lever 33 whereupon the yoke piece and parts carried thereby may be easily turned around and automatically locked in the new position upon release of the lever 33.

The upper portion of the yoke piece 21 may.

' tachably receive winding blocks as at 4|, 42 (or I4) at least one of which is normally empty ready for application to the mill at times when the other is being emptied or is carrying a coil of the rolled strip as at 43. Each of the face plates 39, 3'9'may be formed with annular raised portions as at 44 of wedge-shaped cross section and adapted to be received in corresponding annular grooved portions as at 45 on the winding blocks. Each of the face plates may also be promay readily be unwound and rewound at a decollapsible winding block as at 63 of any suitable well-known type. Thus a coil of the rolled strip as at l3 as carried upon a winding block on the carriage 29, may be unwound as at H to form a more loosely wound coil as at IS" on the collapsible and hence readily removable block 63. By properly" controlling the speed of the motor 60, either' electrically or by adjustment of the hold-back brake assembly 5|, the coil i3 sired predetermined speed and with the desired degree of tightness to form the coil 13''.

Referring now to Figs. 7 to 10 inclusive, the details of a suitable and typical form of winding block adapted for use with the invention will now be described, together-with the parts Icooperating therewith. Fig. 8 illustrates in section one of the winding blocks while still on the mill 'but with a face plate 39 applied thereto preparatory to removal of the block with its coil l3. As shown in this figure the winding block I4 may have a central tapered aperture as at 65 adapted to fit upon the correspondingly tapered 'vided with a plurality of horizontally extending surface of the center piece l5. The center piece slot 80' formed in the bar 11.

2,254,348 'may be permanently fixed to the shaft It as with a pair of arcuately extending and outwardly protruding lugs as at 68, 89 for cooperating with generally complementary arcuately extending lugs as at 10, II formed and protruding from the inner face of the-block M. The ends of these lugs may be formed with cooperating tooth portions having a suitable interengagement, once the winding block and center piece are in proper relative positions of angular adjustment, so that the center piece will drive the winding block in a direction to pull the metal strip attached to the winding block through the mill and properly coil it on the winding block. At the same time such tooth engagementserves to interlock the winding block and center piece against relative. axial displacement. In the form shown such tooth engagement may comprise for example an overhanging portion 72 on the lug 69 extending circumferentially at a slight angle and engaging an oppositely directed angular portion 13 on the lug 10. The lugs 68 and H may similarly be provided with toothed portions as at 14, 15 (Fig. 7). In fact, as shown in Fig. 11, both ends of both lugs 10, H. on thewinding block may be similarly formed with tooth-like angular extensions as at I3, 19', 74, M so that the block may be driven in either direction and may therefore be used at either end of the rolling mill. On the other hand, the lugs 88, 69 on the center tooth-like engaging portions (12, 15).

In order to hold the center piece and winding block in their proper relative angular positions to insure engagement of the tooth portions, a latch means indicated generally at 16 may be provided. This may include a radially slidable bar 11 mounted upon an extension 18 of the lug 89. That is, the upper edge of extension 18 and the lower surface of the bar 18 may be formed with slidable tongue and groove portions as at 19 (Fig. and the bar 11 may be secured in this slidable position as by a bolt 80 slidable in a This bar may be normally pressed inwardly as by a leaf spring 8| fixed on the extension 18 as shown and having an outer resilient end bearing against a lug 82 formed on the side of the bar 11. The inner end of the barl'l may be cut away at angles as shown at 83 so that it will easily slide into place in respect to a cooperating tooth portion for example 14' on the winding blockwhen the latter is slid into place .on the mill. In so doing the winding block is moved to an angular position piece need only be provided at one end with relative to the center piece so that the tooth portions as at .12; I3 and 14, come into engagement for the purposes above explained. The bar 11 may be provided with an operating knob as at 84 so that when it is desired to release the winding block, the bar is ,merely pulled out against the pressure of spring 8|, whereupon the winding block may be moved angularly slightly in respect to its center piece and then slid oil, and onto the carriage means into engagement with one of the face plates as at 39.

The center piece 15 as above described is shown as used in connection with what may be termed the righthand end of the rolling mill. 1! it is desired to use a similar center piece for the winding block on the lefthand end of the mill, then the latch bar and associated'parts instead of being located as shown in Fig. 7, would be formed on the lug 68 for example in place of the tooth portion 15. Also in that event, the tooth portions l2, 15 would be located at the opposite ends of their respective lugs 68, 69. That is,

these reversals of parts are merely such as will be apparent-for causing the winding block to be driven in the reverse direction when applied to the lefthand end of the mill.

In general the equipment may be operated as follows. Assuming that it is desired to start'the operation of the rolling mill, a relatively loose coil of the strip to be rolled is rotatably mounted in any suitable and well-known manner as upon a supporting rod, at the lefthand end of the mill. An empty winding block as .at I 4 is mounted at the righthand end of the mill. The strip is then rolled through the mill and wound onto said winding block. If further rolling is desired, another winding block such as at I4 is mounted at the lefthand end of the mill and the strip of the coil l3 at the righthand end of the mill is then pulled through the mill with the mill operating in reverse direction, whereby the strip is then wound into a coil at the lefthand end of the mill. Similarly the mill may be the millis stopped, upon releasing the latch l6,

the winding block I4 may be slid onto the face plate 38 for example, of the carriage. The carriage may then be moved away from the mill a sufficient distance to permit the same to be reversed. Then when the carriage is again moved up to the mill, the empty winding block on face plate 99 may be slid into place on the center piece l5 and upon moving the carriage away again, the mill is ready to be started again as before with another strip to be wound. -Thereupon during the time that the mill is again operating, the operator may'rewind the strip of the coil l8 onto a collapsible winding reel as M83 in the manner above described.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to a particular preferred example, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of .the invention, and it is intended therefore in the to cover all such changes and an axially removable winding block, a carriage structure including parts for rotatably mounting two winding blocks axially slidable in opposite directions into position thereon, said parts and the blocks ,thereon being collectively rotatable into reversed positions about an axis whereby either block on the carriage may iace'said first named block mounting means, means mounting said carriage for movement toward and away from the mill, whereby a block carrying a coil or the rolled strip from the mill may he slid I onto the carriage, and with the carriage parts thereafter reversed another block may be applied to the mill from the carriage, and means associated with said carriage for rewinding the strip of such coil from its block on the carriage, into another and more loosely wound coil.

2. Apparatus for changing winding blocks on a metal strip rolling mill, comprising a carriage structure including parts for rotatably mounting two winding blocks axially slidable in opposite directions into position thereon, said parts and the blocks thereon being collectively rotatable into reversed positions about an axis whereby either block on the carriage may face the mill, and means mounting said carriage for movement toward and away from the mill to permit reversal of said parts, whereby a block with a coil thereon of the rolled strip from the mill may he slid onto the carriage, and with the carriage parts thereafter reversed another and empty block may be applied to the mill from the carriage.

3. Apparatus for changing winding blocks on a metal strip rolling mill and for unwinding rolled strip fromthe blocks, comprising a carriage, means mounting said carriage for movement toward and away from a winding block on the mill, said carriage having a head portion including parts for rotatably mounting two winding blocks facing in opposite directions thereon, said head portion being reversible means on said shaft between said meansi whereby a coil of the strip may be unwound at controlled speed from either of the blocks carried by the shaft.

7. In apparatus for winding strip metal from a. rolling mill, 8. rotatably mounted center piece,

a plurality of arcuate and radially extending whereby either block thereon may face the mill,

whereby a block with a coil thereon of the rolled strip from the mill may be shifted from the mill to the carriage head, and with said head thereafter reversed another block may be shifted from said head to the mill, and hold-back brake means associated with said head parts whereby said coil may be unwound from its block on the head.

4. Apparatus for changing winding blocks on a metal strip rolling mill, comprising a carriage movable in respectto the mill, an upstanding yoke rotatably mounted about a vertical axis on said carriage, a horizontally extending rotatable shaft in said yoke, and means at each end of said shaft for detachably receiving and fixing thereon a winding block.

5. Apparatus for changing winding blocks on a metal strip rolling mill, comprising a carriage movable in respect to the mill, an upstanding yoke rotatably mounted about a vertical axis on said carriage, a horizontallyextending rotatable shaft in said yoke, means at each end of said shaft for detachably receiving and fixing thereon a winding block, and means for .releasably locking said yoke against rotation in positions whereby either block faces the mill.

6. Apparatus for changing winding blocks on a metal strip rolling mill, comprising a carriage lugs thereon, at least one end of one of said lugs being formed with an angularly extending tooth portion for engaging a complementary tooth portion on a winding block for retaining such block on the center piece when applied thereto, and a spring-pressed radially slidable member on said center piece and having a portion for normally urging said tooth portions into engagement.

8. In apparatus for winding strip metal from a rolling mill, 9. rotatably mounted center piece, a detachable winding block embracing said center piece,. complementary lug portions on said center piece and block having engageable portions for retaining the block against removal from the center piece, and a retractable member for normally retaining the block and center piece in relative angular positions for causing said portions to engage.

9. In apparatus foi' winding strip metal from a rolling mill, a winding block having a central opening adapted to slidably receive a rotatable center piece on the mill, and a plurality of arcuate lugs extending. axially from a face of said block for engaging complementary portions on the center piece when the block is applied thereto, at least one end of one of said lugs being formed with a tooth portion for effecting such engagement upon relative rotational adjustment of the block and center piece. in a manner to lock the block against slidable removal from the center piece.

10. In apparatus for winding strip metal from a rolling mill, a winding block having a central "opening adapted to slidablyreceive a rotatable center piece on the mill, a plurality of arcuate lugs extending axially from a face of said block for engaging complementary portions on the 

